National forecasts of unusually warm temperatures could promote a fiery smoke autumn.
Extreme weather is causing ecological anxiety, like floods in Texas
Flash floods, heat domes and wildfires make our young people experience eco distress. How can you help them become more resilient?
Weatherers have their first predictions as to what to expect when the hot summer weather changes to cooler autumn.
Above average temperature predictions are numerous, along with concerns about what hot fall means for wildfires.
The July forecast from the Climate Prediction Center was an early warning for fall as it saw signs of “normal temperatures around the country” through October.
Accuweather predicts that warm, humid air will remain firmly held throughout the eastern US until early autumn, slowing down the true arrival of weather conditions like falls.
And west, wind events could cause major fires in Central and Southern California as early as September, but according to Accuweather Meteorologist Brian Lada, lightning from a moisture-hungry thunderstorm could ignite the fire even further north.
Meanwhile, predictors warned that wildfires roaring in Canada and the West of the United States will continue to bring smoke to the skies in parts of the Midwest and Northeast this fall.
“Millions of people from Minneapolis to Chicago will see even more wildfire smoke and blurry skies in the middle of the fall season,” said Accuweather Meteorologist Paul Pastelok. “The wind and weather patterns continue to hold high atmospheric wildfire smoke from the US West and Canada, heading northeast through the Midwest and parts of the Great Lakes.”
Records of burnt summer heat in some areas have shattered records, but have also resulted in widespread, historic and deadly flooding in several states, including Texas, New Mexico, New York and North Carolina.
Tropical storms and hurricanes will fuel the threat of floods throughout the late summer and fall, with the most prone to flooding areas expected to be Appalachians, Ohio Valley and the Central Gulf Coast.
The historic heat of summer 2025
Summer 2025 is already scorcher, with much of the eastern half of the country enduring high heat and tropical humidity for weeks, with more expected in the coming weeks. For example, West Virginia endured the hottest July ever recorded, according to the Northeast Regional Climate Center.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also saw 21 days in July and set a record high with a top number of days at at least 90 degrees, the Climate Center said.
Other notable marks included a fever that spiked to 120 degrees in Florida and 128 degrees in Missouri.
Fall forecasts bring concerns about new wildfires
The threat of wildfires will rise in the West, particularly in California, the Rockies and the Northwest, through the early fall, predictors said.
This year, there were already headlines this year, thanks to a horrific fire in the Los Angeles area in January.
Recently, a massive wildfire has already been underway in the western part of early August. As of August 7th, the largest non-contact or partially contained fires were the Dragon Bravo Fire burning in Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park and the Gifford Fire in Southern California.
In addition to the threat of fires in the western region, the Great Lakes region could face fire concerns during dry, windy times, Radha said. “If dry stretching continues, the Northeast and parts of Carolina could increase the risk of fires this fall,” he said.
Similarly, “Dry fuel from Hurricane Helen in 2024 continues to be at high risk in western North Carolina, northwest South Carolina and northern Georgia,” Pastelock said.
42,000 fires so far
As of August 7th, more than 42,000 wildfires have been hit in the United States this year, according to the National Intergency Fire Center (NIFC).
So, what’s going on? “It’s correct to track the number of wildfires reported so far in 2025, which has been tracking higher than we’ve seen in recent years,” NIFC spokesman Rebecca Patterson recently told USA Today. “But when quantifying fire activity, it is helpful to look not only at the number of fires, but also at the number of acres that those fires burned.
“So far, in 2025, the total number of burned acres has been below the 10-year average,” she told USA Today.
That could suggest “many of the fires this year have been smaller or more quickly trapped,” Patterson said, but researchers certainly can’t say.
But as summer changes into autumn, wildfire photography can change rapidly, Patterson said:
Summer also brought about historic flooding
From Texas to Illinois, North Carolina and New Mexico, fatal floods have fallen into the national spotlight this summer, Accuweather reports. A slow, central Texas storm caused more than 12 inches of rain in Kerr County, causing the Guadalupe River to rise 27 feet within an hour, killing more than 130 people.
In addition to the floods in Texas, Tropical Storm Chantal has broken rain records in the Eno River basin in North Carolina, killing six lives. In Chicago, flash floods overwhelm the streets within two hours. In New Mexico, floods tore through the terrain exposed to the Ruidoso fires, killing at least three people.
“In 2025 so far, flash flood reports have increased by 70% across the US compared to the historic average over the decade up to mid-July,” said Jon Porter, chief metomeologist at Accuweather, in an online report. “This means there have been over 4,800 reports of flash floods. That’s a huge number, and why do so many people feel they’re hearing so much about flash floods on the news.”
Why does it rain so much? So far, the overall weather patterns have helped to promote extreme rainfall this summer due to the stronger Bermuda rise than Bermuda.
In addition to the strong Bermuda High, the highly active storm track from Canada gave ample opportunity for thunderstorms in the Ohio Valley and the Midwest as well as in the south and northeastern parts of the country.
